Nicholas Helman
by Daedalus13
Summary: Percy, Annabeth, and all the other well known and well loved characters are dead and gone, several years back. But the gods' problems are far from over. A new generation of heroes rises to meet the challenge, but are they enough?
1. A Stroll Through the Woods

**Daedalus here! Just to clear some things up, in case you hadn't noticed, I'M NOT RICK RIORDAN AND THEREFOR DO NOT OWN ANY PART OF PERCY JACKSON. Now, that's better! This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so judge lightly, at least for now. I'm pretty proud of it, and I'm kind of curious to see where it goes. Enjoy!**

Alright. Here we go. Some of you may have read Riordan's Percy Jackson books. You may think they're great. You also may be under the impression that they're all fake, just a made up story for his kid that got published.

That's not quite true.

The entire Percy Jackson legend is true. All up till the Prophecy of Seven pops up. Then it does actually turn into Riordan's imagination— kind of a 'what if' thing. Percy kept going to camp. He trained, and eventually died of old age and was accepted into Poseidon's kingdom as an immortal god. Don't worry, Annabeth was too. She married him while they were alive, and he brought her with him to be immortal. I've heard that their wedding ceremony was very beautiful, with bouquets of flowers, satyrs serving refreshments, and a nymph choir.

This story takes place a LONG time after all that. We did actually find the Roman camp. They didn't care for us much, but they respected the gods' wishes to not kill us. Not directly at least. See, the Romans sometimes send little presents our way. Monsters have suddenly appeared inside Camp boundaries once or twice, they've disrupted quests, and they just generally cause problems for us; but there's nothing we can do about it. However, the constant threat did have some unintended consequences. We all became much better fighters and heroes and questers than the Romans. Although they fought as a single unit, the system was flawed. And that's not to say ours wasn't either, but because we usually worked in small groups, the effect of our flaws was significantly less.

Because of their misguided attempts to weaken us, the Romans could never attack us, even if the gods allowed them. They just wouldn't win.

Huh. You still don't know my name, do you? Sorry about that. I ramble sometimes. I'm Nick. Son of Athena. This is my story. My memoirs, if you will.

~The First Story~

Or,

A Stroll through the Woods and a Fight to the Death

Ok, so here I am, wandering around town. I lived in a tiny town in Missouri, out in the Ozarks. My parents had a large house, two stories tall, and ten acres. We weren't rich by any means; my dad owned a small business and my mom taught 1st graders. I had a brother and a sister, but they don't come into the story much. My older brother was off in the army and my sister was running around the middle school. I'm fairly short, only five foot four, but I'm still the tallest in my family. I have short brown hair, and grey eyes. I had no idea I was a half-blood.

I was sitting in my math class, not really understanding what was going on. But that wasn't the teacher's fault, I was just too busy building a catapult out of straws and a spoon.

"Nick, if you would, please explain to us why x is 78 rather than 5." I glanced up, looking at the board, not comprehending a single number up there, and proceeded to spout out random mathematical gibberish, such as the Pythagorean theorem, trying to stall for time while I worked my way through the board. I gave up halfway through and shrugged. I had no idea why x was even in the equation, much less why it was 78 and not 5. Mr. Henry was not amused.

"Nick, I'll need you to stay after class today to see if we can riddle this out." He said. "Now, when y is over here on this side…" I stopped listening to him and went back to my catapult, finally making it work. Jordan, the class douchebag, leaned over to one of his other douchebag buddies and loudly whispered "Nick's a joke. He never pays attention or does much of anything. He just sits there by himself hoping he doesn't have to answer anything, 'cause he's so stupid. Why is he even in this class?" I glared at him, and took aim with my catapult, ready to launch and eraser at him.

Unfortunately, Mr. Henry took that moment to turn around and catch me hitting Jordan in the eye with an eraser. "Nick, I've had enough. Office. Now." So keeping my head down, I slowly picked up all of my stuff and shuffled out the door.

I didn't tell my parents. They'd be furious, and I'd never see the light of day again from the grounding I'd get. Back at school, I decided to do my best. I paid attention all through first, second and third hour, but by the time fourth hour came, my concentration was slipping. Fifth hour I slept through, and sixth hour, math, I paid no attention whatsoever in. Mr. Henry, of course, was unhappy. Anyways, near the end of class, I managed to tie Jordan's shoes together, causing him to trip on his way out the door, making him understandably angry. Of course, this ended in a short chase down the hallway, and him tackling me.

I couldn't fight him. I may not be a tiny guy, weighing in at a hundred and sixty four pounds, but Jordan had about twenty pounds on me, and stood at least three inches taller. No catapult would help me now, unless I could load myself into it and be launched away.

But all he did was breathe in my face with his nasty dog breath, and tell me he'd kill me after school. Great, just what I needed — an execution.

The last hour went by fast, and soon I was cornered by Jordan. Probably the first time I've ever wanted school to keep going. He grabbed my collar, dragged me down the hallways, and shoved me into the locker rooms, which were empty. "Alright Jordan. Look man, just leave me alone. I'm not gonna mess with you anymore, ok? Just let me be." I mumbled to the floor, not daring to look up at my death.

"Oh no, Nicholas Helman. That's not going to happen. I've finally got you all to myself, and I am NOT letting this opportunity go by! I am hungry, Nicholas! Hungry for YOU!" And with that, he sprang at me.

It was weird. He kept coming closer, but his feet never moved. In fact, it looked like his feet had melted together! His face had begun looking snakelike, and suddenly a scimitar flashed in his hands.

Now, I'm not an idiot. I'm not about to fight a giant half snake thing in the boys' locker room. I turned and ran for it. But the snake-Jordan was faster. He seemed to know what I was doing before I did, and moved to block me at lightning speeds. He raised his scimitar high, and hissed at me, taunting me. I was done. No way could I get away, and no way could I kill this thing. _That's defeatist thinking, Nick!_ I said to myself. _Think, man! It's fast and has a really big sword. _Yeah, that's helpful, I argued. _Nick, come on! What kind of weapon do you have?_ Weapon? Did I have a weapon? No, not unless you count a catapult made out of straws…

Jordan's sword flashed down as I threw myself aside, landing on my back. It sank into to concrete like it was butter, and Jordan seemed to have a hard time pulling it out. He gave up, and turned to me, baring his snake fangs. As he struck down, I kicked up, knocking out a fang, causing him to hiss in pain and reel back. _Alright Nick! Now go grab that tooth and you've got a knife! _While Jordan was recovering from his kick to the face, I scrambled up and snatched up the tooth. He punched at me, but I managed to deflect his hand, accidentally stabbing through it with his own tooth.

He screamed, jerking his hand off and away, leaking green blood. He began striking left and right with his head. I blocked every strike, falling back each time. _Alright Nick! Now attack!_ It was weird, the voice I was arguing with didn't sound like mine anymore. It was a woman's voice. Kind of an odd thing to be hearing in your head while fighting a half snake with its own tooth. But I took the advice, slamming the tooth into Jordan's eye. He screamed, and reeled back. I pressed the advantage, stabbing him in the chest, and then striking a final blow in his throat. Jordan dissolved into dust, leaving the tooth I was holding, which had now formed a handle and a sharp edge.

I sank to the ground, the tooth falling from my nerveless hand. I sat, trying to wrap my head around what had just happened. My classmate had turned into a snake and tried to eat me, but instead, I killed him with his own tooth. _Nick, you are not safe here. Go. I will lead you. _So I stood, left my backpack, took my knife, and left the school, not really knowing where I was going, but kept walking in a general north eastern direction.

My strategy for overcoming weirdness and pain has always been to ignore it. See, when the class jerk turns into a snake, forcing you to kill him and then run away, you ignore it. As soon as you concentrate on the little things, like hearing ladies' voices in your head, you forget about the giant death bringing snake.

But I digress.

Several hours later, I began to get hungry. _Just ask, and it will come_ the woman's voice said in my head. "Well, alright, can I have some food?" I felt pretty ridiculous asking myself if I could eat something that I didn't have. Of course, my answer to myself was "Absolutely! Chow down man!" Unfortunately, this tactic didn't work, and I remained hungry. But about ten minutes later, a huge silvery-grey owl swooped down and dropped a rabbit at my feet, then flew off. I stared after it. Then down at the rabbit. Then back after the owl. "Umm… thanks?" I started collecting firewood, and even though I had no idea what I was doing, I managed to get a fire going using the bow drill method. I used one of my shoelaces for the string. Trust me, I could never make that work if I had been thinking about it. My hands just seemed to know automatically what to do. Thirty minutes later, I was well rested with a full stomach. Only then did it sink in what had happened to me that day. I had picked a fight with a jerk, almost been killed by the jerk, who apparently was half snake, killed the jerk with his own tooth, and been brought dinner by an owl. Also, to top it all off, I was hearing voices in my head that weren't mine.

In other words, I was nutso, and oh-so-screwed.

_Nick, do not fear. This is only the beginning. Follow your head, and you will find others like you._ Oh, lovely, if I keep going the way I'm going I'll meet other screwed up crazies. Yeah, let's do that! I muttered to myself. _To go back is death, Nick. The others you know would not understand. You would be put in an institution and eventually killed by monsters will you are defenseless. _"I was pretty defenseless today and I did alright" I argued. _Today was an exception. Forward, Nick. You must go to camp. _I gave up. I had no idea what 'camp' was, where it was, or how to get there. I didn't even know if I wanted to go. I decided to just let Madame Cuckoo's voice win. Besides, you can't win an argument with yourself. It just doesn't work.

I walked for weeks. When I was hungry, owls brought me food. When I was thirsty, water happened to be right nearby. No wild animals bothered me. Wolves howled in the distance every so often, but they would be answered by a screech owl, and the wolves always shut up pretty fast. Even the weather was fine. It got hot, but never unbearably so, and at nights I never froze.

In Illinois, I was forced to go directly across a lake, or spend hours going around it. I began gathering materials, eventually finding enough to make an extremely crude raft. _My chosen are always clever, Nick. Do you have what it takes? _Yeah, thanks for the help, lady. And I didn't want to be your 'chosen one'. I'm not Harry Potter.

In Tennessee, I found a music festival. Bluegrass bands were playing, and bar-b-q was everywhere. _Are you talented, Nick? Show me that you are a multi-use man. _My talents include sleeping, eating, ignoring math lessons, building catapults out of straws, and killing half snake monsters. No cooking or musical ability at all. I did however win first place at the Bearden County BBQ Eating Contest. See? I knew that skill would come in handy one day!

In Kentucky, I went through a small town where a rodeo was taking place. _Seek the challenges, Nick. Prove your strength. _Oh, yeah, cause I need to go looking for challenges. It's not like I don't have enough that find me.

In Pennsylvania, I wandered through an Amish community. Great people, the Amish. _Stay awhile, Nick. These people have much to teach, and you will need all the help you can get. _And so, like a good little chosen one, I did as the crazy lady said, and stayed with the Amish for a few nights, learning all I could.

I passed through several states, eventually ending up on a hill. Once there, I stopped, and looked at the view. I had no idea what city it was, but it was huge and very bright. I felt drawn to it, even though I hated big I realized I was being pulled slightly away from the city, not directly to it. It was mid morning when I suddenly heard my disembodied buddy in my head.

_Hurry Nick! The monsters have been following you all through your journey, and I have kept them at bay for now, but I cannot do so any longer! Run Nick! You cannot face so many alone! Go to camp! They will protect you there! I must leave you. Know that I am proud, but do not tell anyone of me. Now go!_

Wolves howled. I opened my eyes and ran.

I couldn't keep it up forever, but I did a pretty good job of making it over the next few hills. As I stopped to catch my breath, I looked back. Maybe a mile away, I saw three huge half snake people. They held huge wolves on iron chains, and the wolves seemed to be leading them somewhere. I realized that that somewhere was where I was. I took my crazy schizophrenic voice's advice and ran.

Several hours later, I was still running. I would stop every once in a while to catch my breath, and the snakes and wolves were never far behind me. I eventually made it to the bottom of a hill. It was all wooded, with a huge pine tree growing on top. There seemed to be a mass of twisted cables around the tree, and a gleaming yellow bath mat hanging from a branch. I was understandably nervous, but when the wolves howled, closer than ever, I began scrambling up the steep slope.

There was heavy breathing and hissing behind me. I knew what it was without looking, and I doubled my pace. But it didn't seem to matter how fast I went, because the snakes and wolves were faster. Chains rattled, and the wolves screamed in joy.

They had let the wolves loose. I turned and drew my tooth. The snakes hissed in either anger or fear, I couldn't tell which, but the wolves continued unabated. As the first one leapt at me, I dodged to the right and sliced at it, scratching him lightly on his side. The cut wasn't deep or serious, but the wolf fell, rolling down the hill a ways, screaming. His side was smoking. The other two wolves cautiously circled me, snarling with their teeth bared. The snakes hissed below, and waved their scimitars threateningly, but kept their distance for now. While I was distracted, the two wolves ran at me, snapping and growling.

I dropped to the ground, rolling under one, and lashed out at the other with the tooth. He fell, smoking, and rolled down the hill. The last, and biggest, sprang at me again and again, trying to wear me out.

Wanna know a secret? It was working.

I started backing up, trying to get to the top of the hill, trying to keep the wolf below me. The snakes came closer now, moving slowly up in a line at me, their lower bodies wriggling along the wet grass. At last I reached the crest of the hill. What I saw was so incredible that I took my eyes off the wolf and snakes. At once, the wolf pounced, and the snakes struck, moving blindingly fast up to me, striking with sword and teeth and claw. I felt warm blood seep out of me, staining the ground. The bite marks from the snakes burned like fire, and bubbled with a greenish goo. The sword cuts stung, and the claw marks left deep gashes. I fell to the ground, sure that I was gone.

But as they all drew in for a second round of killing me, the wires at the base of the tree moved, striking the wolf and all three snakes at the same time. The mass of wires roared its victory, as all four monsters dissolved into dust. I realized that the mass of wires was a dragon. I couldn't stay awake any longer, and I blacked out, listening to alarm bells ring in the camp below me, and glimpsing several figures sprinting towards me.

**So that's my first story, what'd y'all think? I'm pretty proud of it, but my opinion is SLIGHTLY biased. So leave me a review! Suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? I'll even accept criticism, if I have to! Tell me what you think of this!**

**Always,**

**Daedalus**


	2. Running Away From a Drakon

**Daedalus again! For those of you just tuning in, I'M NOT RICK RIORDAN. HE PROBABLY DOESN'T EVEN KNOW I EXIST. A BAD MOVE ON HIS PART, BUT IT'S NOT HIS FAULT. And, because of me not being him, I don't own any part of the Percy Jackson books. Yeah, sorry about the long update time, but work takes precedence over writing, seeing as one gets me money and the other doesn't. Sorry. But it's ok, because it's on here now! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you… The Second Story!**

The Second Story

Or,

Running Away From a Drakon

I woke up to the sound of horns blowing and kids yelling. My first thought? How the hell am I still alive. My second? I didn't have one, because I fell asleep.

The next time I woke, several people were in the room with me there were two kids and a guy in a wheelchair. One kid held a stone bowl, and the other was discussing something with the wheelchair guy, using her hands a lot as she talked. The wheelchair guy looked pretty old, with a tweed jacket and a bushy white beard. As I looked around, I saw another lady standing in the corner. She was wearing a long white dress, and seemed to glow slightly in the early evening light leaking in through the window. She looked at me with such an intense gaze that I shuddered in the bed.

_Heal well, my hero._ The words resounded in my head. I forced myself to look away, and I saw that the others in the room were watching me now. The kid with the bowl was stirring something up, and his spoon was dripping with a yellow goo. When I looked back to the corner where the strange woman was, she was gone. The girl reached over to me and pulled out pieces of cotton from my ears.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, son," Said the old man in the wheelchair.

"What's your name?" the girl asked insistently.

"Shut up, Stevenson," the boy chided. "He's nowhere near being ready to answer questions. I doubt he has the strength to talk." He was right, and my head was swimming just laying there, but I wasn't about to let them know that. So I drew back the sheets, and started moving my legs to the side, managing to drape them over the side. "Whoa, hey now, calm down!" the boy said, moving to push me back into bed. I pushed him aside with a wave of my arm, and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to gather enough strength to stand. Stevenson, the girl, took my arm to help me up. I stood, leaning on her heavily, and the boy took my other arm.

We moved to an outside porch, the old man wheeling himself after us. "Son, I know it's quite a sight, but please try to stay calm. This is Camp Half-Blood, where people like you can live and train in safety." Stevenson and the boy laid me down on a beach chair. "p-people like me?" I managed to croak out.

"Demigods, son. Half Human, half Greek god."

I blacked out again.

When I woke, I was back in the bed, and a different kid was standing over me. He was wearing a large apron, so I couldn't see his legs. The man in the wheelchair rolled in the room. "Ah, it's good to see you awake again! Last time you exhausted yourself so completely that you've been asleep for an entire day!" Stevenson and the other guy brought in a projector on a cart. Stevenson glanced at me, saying "Usually we show this in a theater, but seeing as Willie says you're not allowed to move…" Willie, the boy, shrugged. "Hey, last time you did you were asleep for a full day. You don't have to be the son of the god of medicine to understand that moving is bad for you!" he chuckled. Willie left the room, turning the lights off as he went. Stevenson stood on my right, and the wheelchair dude sat on my left. The projector started up.

A day later, I was lying on a beach chair on the porch, trying to understand and absorb what world I had just fallen into. I watched people with goat legs picking strawberries, kids swinging swords at each other and shooting dummies with bows. Every so often, an alarm would sound, and groups of kids would run out of whatever outpost was nearby, and kill whatever monster had popped up. There was a blacksmith's forge in the camp, but instead of black or grey smoke, green and yellow would sometimes billow up.

I heard someone approach from behind. Willie spoke. "You know, the ambrosia has probably taken full effect by now. You should be alright to get up and start training." I ignored him, continuing to stare out at the valley from the porch of a huge farmhouse.

He sighed and walked away, taking his bow off his back, casually shooting three arrows into a fiery bat that had popped out of the ground a few seconds before.

The next day, I stood, stretching. Across the plain, Willie saw me, and grinned. I searched out the wheelchair dude, Chiron. Except he wasn't in his wheelchair anymore— he was over with Willie, standing in all his glory as a… half horse. The centaur looked at me and raised his bow over his head as a kind of salute, I guess. He left the field and came trotting over to me. "Nick!" he cried, "It's good to see you up and about! I was worried you'd never move again!" he chuckled. I shrugged and said "well, I'm not gonna sit around for the rest of my life. Especially not when I could be learning how to sword fight, shoot a bow and arrow, and make weapons! This is a freaking awesome place!" I grinned, and Chiron gave me the tour.

After seeing the stables, the arena, the archery range, Chiron handed me over to Stevenson. She led me toward the forge, and after my first attempt to talk to her, she corrected me. "You don't have to call me Stevenson," she laughed, "Willie does that because he's an idiot. My first name is Eloi." I apologized, saying "Oh, my mistake madam. I can imagine why you would want to be known as Eloi. Because, as I'm sure you're aware, Eloi is a much more normal name than Stevenson." She grinned and shoved me, heading down towards a small shack.

As she opened it, I was hit by the sight of bronze, gold, and iron. Armor and shields were stacked on the side, and weapons covered the rest. She gestured for me to enter, and so I ran in, eyes wide. "Alright Nick. Pick out anything you want. But choose wisely, because whatever you pick is going to be what you train with the most." I nodded, scanning the collection. I picked up a long bronze tipped spear, feeling it. "Hmm… maybe. It doesn't really seem you, though." Eloi said. I agreed, laying it back down. I hefted a huge ax, and turned to pose for Eloi. She cracked up. "Nick, that is the most ridiculous match up I have ever seen! Put it down before you hurt yourself!" I pouted, but dropped it back on its hooks. The next weapon I picked was a golden dagger. "That's a trophy from a long time ago. During a clash with the Romans." I nodded, but put it back. Then a shortened spear caught my eye. The shaft was about five feet tall, a little shorter than myself, and the tip was a piece of black iron, fashioned into a blade about four inches long. The blade came to a sharp point at the tip.

I gripped the short glaive with both hands, holding it across my chest. I turned to face Eloi, who nodded. She was very excited, and quickly fitted me with a big thick piece of chest armor made of bronze, and a kilt of bronze strips for my legs. A small helmet covered my face. Eloi stepped back and nodded. "You look every bit the hero you're going to become, Nick." I was glad my face was hidden, or she would've seen me blush.

Alright, fine, I admit it, Eloi is extremely attractive. Long curly brown hair, deep green eyes, a gorgeous tall, curvy body… She's very dangerous, very athletic, and because of all this, she was also VERY out of my league. I'm about five foot four, with short brown hair, and a heavy body. I'm not really fat, but I'm definitely not skinny. I'm just heavy. My eyes are pure grey, and my skin is not the shade it should be to match my Cherokee heritage.

But back to the story.

We walked out of the shed, and back up to the archery range, me carrying my helmet under my arm, and my glaive across my back, and my knife strapped to my waist. As we arrived, Willie was trying to nock six arrows, showing off for some girls in fancy clothes. When he released, disaster struck. One went sideways, one strait up, two went directly for the girls, and the remaining two flew directly at Eloi and I. She shot one out of the air with her short bow, while I sliced the other in half in one move. The girls, now hiding behind a rock, were shrieking with laughter, and Willie looked embarrassed.

Nobody had noticed me cut an arrow out of the air, and I was glad. If they had seen me cut an arrow out of the air, they'd think I was the son of Ares or something. I didn't want to know who my parent was. I didn't want to know which one of my human parents had cheated on the other to get me.

So Willie was trying to slink away from the archery range, the Aphrodite girls were laughing at him, and Eloi was making fun of him. I just kind of stood around with them, not wanting to make an enemy of Willie, but still finding it funny that his attempt to show off for the ladies failed so spectacularly. Eventually, Eloi led me towards the Hermes cabin, who took in everybody who hadn't been claimed."It's actually kind of weird that you haven't been claimed yet, Nick. It's supposed to happen by the time that you're thirteen. How old are you again?"

"I'm sixteen. So about three years late? And, this armor is cool and all, but can I take it off and put it somewhere? I know I make it look easy to carry, but it's really heavy and hot." She laughed, throwing her head back and picking up her pace. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you were wearing that! Yeah, I can take you over to the Hermes cabin now, or you can just hold on to it and wait for your parent to claim you. It shouldn't be too much longer, now that you know who you are." I nodded, distracted again by which of my parents had cheated on the other. I decided to just hold on to it, because I should be claimed at any moment.

Of course, I wasn't. I carried all my gear with me for a full week.

On Friday, we played capture the flag.

"Alright Nick, here we go. We're the red team, and we're allied with Ares, so we don't really need to worry about fighting as much as getting the flag. Erica and the Athena cabin are pretty smart, so this is gonna be REALLY hard." Garrett, the Hermes cabin leader, was explaining my part in the game. I wasn't allowed to use my knife because of its poison, so I was wandering around in the armor and my glaive. I had really taken a shine to the arts and crafts training, and I had built a new weapon to use, but I hadn't told anyone about it yet. As such, I was getting a lot of weird looks. I had a quiver strapped to my thigh, but it was too short to hold any arrows. That's why I had a crossbow slung across my back. Garrett was still talking "… So that's why we have to be fast. Got it?" I nodded, but kept staring at Eloi. "Yeah, Garrett. Fast. Got it. Who is the Apollo cabin with?" He shook his head, following my gaze. "Huh? Apollo? They're on the blue team. The enemy. Be mean, Nick. Be a jerk to 'em!" I gave a convincing chuckle, and started marching off towards the forest. "Hey Nick!" I turned. Garrett gave me a rare serious look. "Give 'em hell, man." I grinned, thinking on the plan and how much confidence he had in me, the newest guy there.

I went to my assigned position and waited for the game to begin. I wasn't waiting long, and a horn blew in the distance, signaling the start. I climbed to the top of Zeus' Fist, one of two twin boulder piles. This one supposedly had an entrance to the Labyrinth a long time ago, while the other was supposed to be covering up Kampe, a huge dragoness that was bad news. I took my crossbow off my back, and loaded in a bolt.

I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to not kill, but still shoot people, but Chiron had promised it's be ok.

So I stood atop the boulder pile, waiting for anyone to show up. It took nearly thirty minutes for anyone to show up, and when they did, it was a mix of both teams, screaming their heads off and running towards me. I was extremely confused until Garrett shouted at me. "DRAKON! NICK, SHOOT IT!" and lo and behold, there was a huge silvery wingless dragon running through the woods after the rest of the campers. I took careful aim, remembering what Chiron and Eloi had taught me in archery practice that past week. I said a quick prayer to Apollo, and squeezed the trigger. The crossbow jumped in my hands, and the bolt sped out, like a bronze bullet. the bolt bounced off his side. I reloaded and aimed again, slowly squeezing the trigger. This time it hit his mouth, knocking out a tooth. The campers had assembled into a phalanx in front of Zeus' Fist, and were advancing slowly. The Drakon had taken notice of me, the little pest that had knocked out his tooth and injured his pride. He bellowed, and rushed straight at me. I stood my ground like an idiot, and fired again, this time hitting him square in the eye.

Now, even though I had never met a Drakon before, I hadn't known they were screamers. Learn something new every day.

The Drakon shrieked its head off, staggering slightly and swerving to the left, where its good eye could still see. I loaded another bolt, but I didn't need it. The phalanx of campers had reached him, and was tearing into his side with celestial bronze weapons. He was a pile of silvery scales in no time. The camp was chanting my name, and were offering me the Drakon scales, but I hardly noticed. Something better was happening.

Eloi was staring at me with respect, and pride, and maybe just a glimmer of something more.

**Well, there's chapter two! Hope you enjoyed it, and I apologize again for the long delay in the update. Hope you don't hate me… REVIEW PLEASE. I honestly would love to know what you all are thinking when you read this, and it'll help make the story better for everyone. **

**Always,**

**Daedalus**


	3. The Time I Realized I'm an Idiot

**Miss me? Of course you did! How could you not? Don't answer that, please. Daedalus again, in case you were wondering, just here to give you the Third Story here, don't mind me… Ladies and Gentlemen- THE TIME I REALIZED I'M AN IDIOT!**

The Third Story

Or,

The Time I Realized I'm an Idiot

This story takes place about a month after my first capture the flag game. So I had made a few new toys, and tested them out in capture the flag. I had made incendiary bolts, sleeping potion bolts, and a few others that I could grab and load up for whatever occasion. I was working on designing a set of armor, to be made with the Drakon scales. I hadn't started work on it just yet, because I wanted it to be perfect. I was going to wear it a lot, and you don't stumble across piles of Drakon scales very often. I also still didn't know who my parent was, which was very frustrating.

Because I still hadn't been claimed, I was kind of a loner. I was allowed to pretty much do whatever I wanted, make my own schedule and what not. The Hermes kids let me stay in their cabin, which I appreciated. I spent most of my time in the forges. I enjoyed making my own weapons and armor. Chiron would pull me aside every so often and we'd have long talks, trying to figure out who my parent was, but so far we'd had no luck.

My times in the forges and the campfires were the best. I've heard at one time the nightly campfires were just for singing stupid songs, but the Apollo cabin had changed it up a bit. Now, sometimes, campfires were story time. We listened to long poems about the different adventures of Percy Jackson, mainly, though others were thrown in too.

Jumba, the satyr that created Yellowstone National Park to protect a colony of dryads.

Eric, the sneaky son of Hermes who, according to rumor, had followed in his father's footsteps and stolen one of Apollo's sacred cows.

Or the ill-fated journey of Terrence and his crew of heroes that spent years building a ship and trying to sail around the world. We still had hopes that one day they would come sailing into the harbor on their magical red trireme, which was supposedly blessed by both Hermes and Poseidon.

This last one got me thinking. Surely if their trireme was blessed by the god of travelers and the god of the sea, then they must still be alive. But where were they? They had set out two years earlier, and no contact had been made since. No Iris-message ever went through. But Terrence was a son of Poseidon himself, and the crew was made of the strongest demigods at camp. Many campers had been friends with Terrence and the rest, and many more remembered them. As such, their story was not often told.

I had done a little information gathering, and had learned that the Red Trireme had been nearly impervious to all assault, whether Imperial Gold, Celestial Bronze, or Stygian Iron. Nothing had been able to make even a dent in the hull of the ship. It also, being blessed by Poseidon, had been able to go underwater, and the occupants had been able to breathe, almost like a submarine. But what really interested me was the rumored stockpile of a new metal, stronger and deadlier than gold, bronze, or iron. This 'god ore' was, according to the stories, found in the old city of Troy. It's said to be enchanted, so depending on how you shaped it, it would have special properties. This ore is supposed to be what the Cyclops used to create the gods' own armor and weapons.

Imagine it. Godlike weapons and armor.

I had made it my goal in life to find the Red Trireme, and bring it home, along with its crew and the god ore. So far, it hadn't been going well.

"NICK! Go UP the wall, not across it! The lava doesn't care about you! Faster Nick, faster!" Garrett was screaming at me as I tried for the millionth time to climb the rock wall. The problem was that I was just not fast enough. I wasn't thin, and I definitely wasn't light. "Shut up Garrett! It's hard enough to concentrate up here without you yelling at me!" And of course, the wonderful crazy lady's voice would pop into my head whenever I was about to die. This didn't exactly help. _Move your left hand up to that ledge. Ok, now switch your feet… _I usually did the opposite of what she said just to spite her. And that's why I usually fell.

"Nick, what the hell! If you had grabbed onto the ledge with your hand, you could've made it! What is wrong with you?!" Garrett was usually an easy going, but when I screw up he goes nuts. "Shut it, Garrett. Maybe if you'd give suggestions rather than yell at me to move faster, I'd be able to get up the wall without dying every time." I shot at him as I left to go to my next class, medicine.

The good thing is that Eloi has medicine at the same time as me. Funny how that happened…

Nothing had happened between me and Eloi. I couldn't get the courage to ask her out, mainly because I didn't know who my parent was. What if she and I had the same parent? I couldn't even think about that, so I never did anything. Of course, if you've ever had a crush on someone, and then try to ignore the feeling, you end up wanting to be with them more and more until you go insane.

But maybe that's just me.

Another month passed, and my life revolved around waiting for my parent to claim me. I was just floating through life, hoping to do something that would cause my parent to let me know who I was. (In case you hadn't caught on, this is that story.)

I was testing a new kind of automaton. If I could get it to work, it would expand from a three inch figurine, to a six foot Hoplite, complete with armor, shield, and spear. I was entertaining the notion of my dad being Hephaestus, because I loved being around the forge and workshops so much. It made sense, right? And if that was so, then Eloi would be open, because her dad is Apollo. But Hephaestus never claimed me. Nobody did. It went on so long that I decided to move on and not care. The next day I was back to waiting to be claimed.

At the end of Percy Jackson's fight with the titans, he made a deal with the gods, that their children would be claimed by their thirteenth birthday. I started thinking that maybe I wasn't actually a demigod. Maybe the crazy lady's voice in my head was wrong. Of course, this was always a cue for her to join the internal conversation. _NICHOLAS HELMAN! I AM NOT WRONG! YOU __ARE__ A HALFBLOOD, WHETHER YOU THINK SO OR NOT!_ And that pretty much ended that thought.

But if I was a halfblood, then who was my parent? I found out the answer while playing capture the flag that Friday. Actually, looking back on it, I really already knew the answer. I just wasn't thinking.

Because I was my own cabin, I could make my alliance with anyone I wanted to\, and I usually made mine with Apollo (three guesses why). "So Hephaestus, you're on defense with Apollo, and Morpheus. Ares, and my own cabin will be leading. Nick… just raise hell." Erica, the Athena cabin's Head Counselor had such a high opinion of me. Raise hell. Well, I guess I can do that.

Eloi walked with me to our flag, placed in a low valley far away from the red team. We stood awkwardly together for maybe ten minutes, before the game started. "Nick, you know, you might have been claimed before you got here," Eloi said. "Nah, I think I'd remember a giant flaming hammer popping out of thin air over my head. That kind of stuff would be pretty weird at school." She chuckled and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. But have you ever had any kind of sign? Like anything at all? Cause some people get just tiny bugs in their bunks to let them know who they are." I gave her a weird look as I jogged away to wreck havoc on the blue team. "Bugs in their bunks? Dear God, I hope that doesn't happen to me!" and I disappeared into the trees.

I slipped past their guards by shooting him with my crossbow from far away. Far enough that he didn't see my bolt until it was flashing down out of the cloudy skies at him. I ran forward and collected my bolt, then fired another at the next guard who had just stepped into view. I crouched, then snuck forward, taking my bolt and patting the fallen guard on the helmet. Soon I was in sight of their flag. Strange that I had only met two guards… I immediately strapped my crossbow to my back and extended my glaive, spinning it in a circle as five Hermes campers surrounded me, appearing out of the air. And suddenly, in front of me, a figure in a dark black robe appeared, melting out of the shadows. I grinned beneath my helmet. Quinton Adams, son of Hades.

Quinton raised his arms, summoning skeletons from the earth to fight me and wear me down. I would have none of that! Before the skeletons could climb out of their pits, I slammed my glaive through each of their skulls. I could see Quinton's pale face grin as he shed his robe, standing before me in pure black iron armor. He smiled, drawing two long black knives. I grinned back, and we began our deadly dance. The Hermes campers waited in a circle around us as we fought, my glaive spinning and flashing, and his knives sweeping and cutting. Usually, when Quinton and I fought, he would win unless I pulled a trick on him. But he had seen all my tricks before, and they wouldn't work on him anymore.

So I had made some new ones. I jabbed the butt of my glaive at his head, making him jerk back, and then twisted the shaft, making two weapons, each about two and a half feet in length. His eyes widened as I stabbed him with the spear head of the second weapon. Of course, the Hermes Campers attacked as soon as I did, and I had a hard time fending them off till I put my glaive back together. And while I was fighting for my life, retreating back across the river, I saw both teams racing for the opposite side. Garrett had the Red flag, and was almost to the river, while Erica had the Blue flag and was sprinting as fast as she could.

So I did the natural thing. I swept my blade in a circle, giving me some space from my attackers, and threw my glaive straight at Garrett. Weaponless, I was cut down, but before I was, I saw Erica leap across the river, and Garrett's teammates make a desperate grab for the Red flag on the ground.

"Nick. Nick get up… Oh for crying out loud, GET UP NICK!" a voice yelled in my ear, startling me out of my bed. Erica stood in front of me, arms crossed and angry faced. "Chiron said you saved the game. You let yourself be cut down rather than lose? What kind of a plan is that?" I smiled weakly "a good one it seems! We won! Sacrificing myself was the only way too-" and my voice trailed off, as a silver owl glowed above my head. Erica stood staring at me, her hands covering her mouth. "Oh no… no not _you_…of all the cabins you could have been from, why mine?" of course, Chiron, Willie, and Garrett took that moment to enter the room. Chiron stopped and bowed, saying "Hail Nicholas Helman, son of Athena." The other two just stared, weakly repeating Chiron's words.

_Are you happy now, Nicholas? Is that what it takes to get you to do well? I will help you plan, if only because you seem incapable of doing so on your own. Welcome to the family, Nick. _

**And that's all I've got for you! Sorry about the long delay, school and work and such… oh, and because I didn't mention it up there, I'm not Riordan, so none of his work belongs to me. So Nick finds out he's an idiot for not realizing who his momma is, and saves the game by sacrificing himself. Cool guy. Wish I was him. Toodle-oo, See ya'll soon! **


	4. We're Off to Fight the Romans

**I'm back. I know. I took forever. But I experienced an extreme case of writer's block. I knew he had to build the armor, but I didn't know what he was supposed to do. So I waited for inspiration. And I found it. Oh, ah, I'm not actually Rick Riordan, and I don't actually, ahem… well, I don't own any of his stuff… sorry. Well, maybe this'll make it up to you. The Fourth Story!**

The Fourth Story

~or~

We're Off to Fight the Romans

This one starts the week after I was claimed. One week, to the day. I was just getting out of bed. "Nick, get up! Breakfast is almost ready!" a horn blows in the distance, and I get shoved out of my bed, landing on the floor with a thud and a groan. I slowly climbed to my feet, and threw on yesterday's t-shirt and cargo shorts. Erica wrinkled her nose in disgust, and the Athena cabin marched out to war. Or breakfast; whichever came first. After landing in my seat, and pouring some coffee into a fire as an offering to Athena, I started to groggily smash food into my mouth.

During the chatter and noise of the camp eating, a shout came from the hill. I looked up, as did Erica, and over the top of the hill a red colored horsehair plume rises. Then another, and another, and… a whole line of red plumes came marching over the hill. What followed them was worse. A full line of Roman warriors, marching in stiff lockstep, making the earth tremble even there at the dining pavilion, emerged from the woods across the hill.

Their faces were covered by bronze helmets, and huge tower shields were held steady in front of them. As they neared, my fellow campers scrambled, trying to escape or fetch their gear. Behind the Roman line, a fire raged, swallowing the Earth. And tied to poles were our guards. And on the center pole was Eloi…

I jerked awake, yelling a wordless rage. The cabin woke instantly, scrambling up and falling out of bed, drawing weapons. I sat bolt upright, slowly breathing in and out, face red and body tensed. "Nick, what the hell, man?" several people muttered at me, giving me poisonous looks, before slipping back into their beds. Erica stayed awake, glaring at me. I shook my head, and wandered outside, trying to clear my mind. _Nick, you have been given a vision. You alone know what is to come. You must face this threat, or the camp will be destroyed. The camp will soon be under siege, and the campers trapped inside will be helpless. You must escape, Nick. _

Nothing like your mom speaking inside your head to clear your mind.

But I felt that she was right. Don't ask me how, but I knew that the fancy wall that the Hephaestus cabin had built around the Big House would kill us. That was supposed to be our acropolis, our last resort defense, but if Athena was right, and she usually was, then it would be our undoing. Man, I just love happy thoughts like those! I had maybe a week to get as many people as I could out with me. I also had to get Chiron and the other Head counselors to believe me. I couldn't do anything right now though, so I took a nap.

The next morning, I ran off to find Chiron. I explained to him what had happened, and to my surprise he nodded. "I had a vision very similar to yours, Nick. I too believe that an attack is imminent. But what I'm not sure about is why, and who." I stared at him. "Um, Chiron? Look, I mean, the Romans are our enemies, right? They hate us and want us dead. Plus, my vision said it would be them." He smiled, looking at a painting of Percy and Annabeth Jackson at their wedding. "Nick, I've had a little bit of experience with visions. Symbols and hidden meanings are endless, and double meanings and fallacies are common as well," he said. "Chiron?" "yes Nick?" "What does fallacy mean?"

He snorted at me, which was funny because he's a horse. "Fake, Nick. False, untrue, a lie, in essence." I nodded. "So it's not the Romans? Could that have been a symbol for some enemy? Just any enemy at all?" Chiron nodded, snapping his fingers and pointing at me. "Exactly Nick. But one thing IS clear— we need a council of war. And I think you should sit in on this one."

Thirty minutes later, all the head counselors sat around a ping-pong table, snacking on quesadilla chip dip and discussing my sanity. "Nick knows what he's doing. If he and Chiron both say we're going to be attacked, I believe it." Garrett and Quinton both spoke up for me, while Erica, Kate of Aphrodite, and Sari (SAH-ree) of Nemesis spoke against me.

I really felt the home team love coming from Erica.

Eventually though, it was decided that I would head out to see our resident Oracle, a scrawny girl named Eve. As I neared her cave, however, I heard moaning from within. I hesitated, and then dashed in, dagger drawn. Eve was on the floor, desperately trying to keep blood inside of her by pressing cloth to her side. I sheathed my dagger and immediately applied pressure to the wound, letting eve rest and conserve her strength. Through her tears and gasps of pain, I learned that something had snuck into her cave and sliced her open during the night. I tried to stay positive for her, but I knew what a mortal wound was. Eve was going to die, and I had just met her.

Suddenly, she went rigid. She grabbed my shoulders, sitting up in the process, making her wound worse. Or it would have, if the wound had still been there. Smooth skin now covered where a hideous cut had been, moments ago. Green mist poured from her mouth, nose, and ears.

**You will escape our doom, to find your own,**

**You will seek the key in a place unknown.**

**Ghosts and wolves, and bows abound,**

**Far underneath the frozen ground.**

**Yours and hers and his as well,**

**Off to search as our enemy swells.**

She fell backward, unconscious. I picked her up, and carried her down to the Big House, inside the acropolis walls. I related the story of what happened, as well as the words of what could only be a prophecy. Chiron sighed, looking at Willie take care of Eve in the med bay. "Apollo chooses his oracles carefully, and becomes upset when one is hurt. Whoever would do this is either powerful enough to not have to fear his wrath, or crazy enough to not care. As you can see, however, Apollo takes good care of his oracles." Eve was sitting up, but then fell back against the bed, holding a hand to her head.

I nodded, still trying to make sense of the prophecy. 'Yours and hers and his as well' had to refer to who would go with me. So me, a girl, and a guy. The counselors immediately began debating who should go. "Obviously Garrett should. If this is going to save us from a siege, then someone needs to be able to sneak." But Garrett shook his head. "No. It shouldn't be any head counselor. We'll all be needed for leadership during the siege." Erica agreed, and it was left up to me to pick who I wanted. I went through the camp, trying to find who I wanted. At last I found Darius, son of Zeus. He was causing a gale to fling dummies at the Apollo kids, who were trying to shoot them. He was laughing his head off, his dark skin glinting in the morning sun. When I asked him, he immediately accepted. "Yeah Nick. For sure! I've been looking for a quest for a long time!" he laughed as a straw dummy ran into an Apollo kid. "Right. Look, Darius, if you're going with me, then you should know that the camp is going to be attacked soon. The quest is to escape before that happens, and then save them. We won't be here to help fight during the siege." His mouth opened slightly, and his dreadlocks stood on end (which is quite a sight, for those of you who've never seen it before) as tendrils of electricity ran over his body. He slowly took on a more serious face, and nodded tightly. He turned and began getting ready to leave without another word, leaving the dummies to fall to the ground.

Now for the girl. I was afraid to ask Eloi, because I wasn't sure how well we could work together if I was going to be constantly trying to protect her. On the other hand, the image of her strung up on a pole was flashing through my mind. _Leave her. She will be a distraction, one that you cannot afford._ I nodded to my internal momma voice, and thought through my options. Mallory was the one that kept coming to mind. Mallory Taylor is a girl that stands about 5' even, and weighs maybe 90 pounds, sopping wet. She's the daughter of Ares. She's also the most loyal person alive.

At the sword fighting arena, Mallory was fighting her older brother, Andy. He stands about 6 foot 7, and weighs in at maybe 300 pounds. "Of course I'm going! How could I not?! Yeah I'm gonna miss out on some crazy awesome action, but the camp is what matters. If this is the way to save the camp, I'm in." and with that, she tackled Andy, swinging around his neck by her legs, and throwing him to the ground. From there, she pummeled his head with her club till he went limp. She stood, dusted herself off, and exchanged her club for a needle thin dagger, beckoning for the next opponent to come at her.

Mallory's training fights are rather… intense.

I spent the next week building my armor. I sure as hell wasn't leaving those scales around for the enemy to find. Almost as soon as I had finished it, the alarm bells began ringing, and shouts and clashes of swords rang out. I gathered my stuff, grabbed my bag, and sprinted out to our rendezvous point. Darius was already there, and Mallory and Quinton appeared out of the shadows. Quinton nodded to me, and disappeared. I looked at Darius. Darius looked at Mallory. Mallory looked at me. We all nodded simultaneously, and took off running.

**Yeah, shut it. I know the prophecy sucks. But other than that, I think I NAILED IT. But that's just my opinion. What's yours? How'd I do? Or, in other, harsher words, FREAKING GIVE ME A REVIEW. Or don't I guess, if you want more suckish prophecies. It's up to you.**

**Always,**

**Daedalus**


End file.
